THE RESCUE THAT LAUNCHED A FLEET After the miraculous rescue of Casper Kruger in 2006, the surfski community began a fundraising drive for Sea Rescue. To date it has funded six RIBs

Robin Mousley recounts the rescue of surfskier Casper Kruger and how, as a result, the surfski fraternity has lent their support to the NSRI. THE RESCUE that launched a fleet

CASPER KRUGER WATCHED AGHAST as the safety boat motored past, a mere 20m or so away. He yelled as loudly as he could, but amidst the noise of the wind, the breaking waves and their own motor, they just couldn’t hear him. The boat chugged further and further away, finally disappearing into the distance.

It was December 2006 and an unseasonal cold front had swept into Cape Town, a howling northwesterly whipping up lines of breaking waves in False Bay. A surfski race had been scheduled for late that morning, but event organiser Billy Harker had taken the unpopular decision to cancel.

‘I had paddled that stretch in a previous race in similar conditions,’ he said. ‘But this was even worse – there was mist on the water, limiting visibility.”

In the shelter of Monwabisi Beach, though, the sea didn’t seem particularly threatening and Harker’s warnings were shouted down. The race might be cancelled, but the paddlers were determined to go anyway. Herbert Conradie, a local paddler, had arranged for safety boats to follow the surfskis. And, knowing who was on the water from the list of race entries, Harker went to the finish to check them off the water.

Twenty minutes later, conditions changed abruptly. The wind was swinging even more to the north and increasing to near gale force. Now blowing directly offshore, the wind and waves were side-on, and the paddlers found themselves fighting to avoid being blown out to sea.

That was when Casper, paddling an unfamiliar new surfski, fell off his craft. He clambered back on but was knocked off again. He tried once more, slower this time, and briefly sat upright – but as he reached for his paddle, he fell off yet again. After several more attempts, he realised he was too cold and too weak to go on. At that moment he saw the safety boat go past without seeing him.

Meanwhile, at the finish, Harker was concerned by the deteriorating sea conditions and had already contacted the Gordon’s Bay NSRI crew to warn them that they might be needed.

So when Casper failed to arrive at the finish, the search operation swung into gear quickly. Crews from Gordon’s Bay, Strandfontein and Simon’s Town were launched and the Metro Red Cross AMS and Vodacom Netcare 911 helicopters were scrambled.

But the missing paddler’s surfski was impossible to spot amid the maelstrom of breaking waves – the searchers simply could not see him. Ironically, he could see them. ‘They were so close, I could see the faces of the pilots,’ he said. ‘The sun came out several times and I wished I had a mirror or something I could signal with.’ By now Casper had drifted further out into the bay, where the waves had grown much larger. ‘About every seventh wave, I could hear one coming,’ he said, ‘and it would break right over me.’ Being tumbled by these breakers was terrifying.

He knew that his only hope was to stay with the surfski but, unable to feel his hands, he wasn’t sure he

could hang onto it. He thrust his arms through the foot straps and attempted to tie himself to the ski using his paddle leash. ‘I couldn’t tie a knot,’ he explained, ‘but I sort of wrapped the leash in a tangle.’

By 17h30, the rescuers were beginning to give up hope and the two civilian helicopters had returned to base to refuel. In response to an NSRI request for help, the South African Air Force launched an Oryx helicopter. When the wind suddenly died and swung to the south, the waves calmed almost magically and on the third leg of their search pattern, the aircrew spotted the surfski with the semiconscious Casper draped over it.

Moments later they deployed a rescue basket and winched the exhausted casualty into the helicopter, where he began to shake uncontrollably. ‘We see a lot of hypothermia cases,’ one of the crew said later, ‘and I estimate that he had 15, maybe 20 minutes left. It was really that close.’ Back on the beach, a crowd of subdued but relieved paddlers set off home.

‘The NSRI had supported surfski events for years,’ said Harker, ‘but this rescue in particular got me thinking about how we as a community could give back to the organisation in a really meaningful way.’

The answer was quite simple: a special project was created for surfski paddlers to sign up to and Harker handed his national paddler database to the NSRI fundraisers.

By 2010, the surfski fund had raised enough money to pay for the first 5.5m RIB, Spirit of Surfski, which was presented to NSRI Gordon’s Bay (Station 9).

Four more RIBs paid for by the fund are based at Simon’s Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Mykonos respectively. The 10.6m Mykonos boat is the largest RIB in NSRI’s fleet. And in November 2019, the NSRI Durban base was the scene of a blessing ceremony for the sixth Spirit of Surfski, a fully equipped 8.8m RIB. ‘We’ve raised R6.7 million for the NSRI so far,’ says Harker, ‘and my hope is that we [the surfski community] will become the biggest supporters of the NSRI in history.’

Left and above: Casper Kruger’s rescue sparked the idea for the surfskiing community to raise funds for Sea Rescue. Right: Volunteer crew getting ready to take Spirit of Surfski 6 out for a demonstration. Below (from left): Tracy, Ann and Billy Harker.

If you would like to support this initiative, please call Lianne at the NSRI Call Centre on 021 430 4701 or send her an email at monthlydraw@ searescue.org.za. Please let Lianne know that you would like to support the surfski initiative. You could win one of five R10 000 prizes each month as well as R100 000 in our annual December draw. For R50 per month, you will get two tickets giving you 10 entries each month and two entries into the R100 000 December draw.